From November 22, 2014
to December 20, 2014

In the winter of 2014, the gallery had organized a retrospective of the work of Alfred Lombard (1884-1973). Nearly a hundred original works had been presented on this occasion, oils on canvas or works on paper. This exhibition sale was organized in collaboration with the artist's family.

Alfred Lombard distinguished himself alongside the Fauves in his early years and fought in his time for an artistic renaissance in Provence, organizing in particular in Marseille with his friend Pierre Girieud the Salons de Mai in 1912 and 1913. Hailed as one of the most promising painters of his generation, his first solo exhibition was held at Paul Rosenberg's in 1914.
The rest of his career was marked by the practice of mural painting and his participation in numerous decorative projects alongside the architect Pierre Patout, notably those of the liners "Atlantique" and "Normandie".

His return to easel painting in the 1940s was marked by a new direction. The artist continued to explore the boundaries between figuration and abstraction, through plastic experiments that would remain secret until his death. Although continuing his research, Lombard had decided not to show his work and his last personal exhibition, at the Druet Gallery, dates from 1925, while his submissions to the Salons had become rarefied to the point of simply stopping after the occupation. Resolution of an artist whose artistic integrity commanded him not to bend to certain requirements of the art market.

After his death, his children wished that the whole of his work be rediscovered. A retrospective exhibition at the Cantini Museum in Marseille at the end of the 1980s revealed a secret part of the artist's production, in line with the concerns of a post-war generation of painters confronted with abstraction. It also allowed us to take a fresh look at older works, which have been included in the permanent collections of several museums, including the Annonciade in Saint-Tropez, the Granet Museum in Aix-en-Provence, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Le Havre.

This exhibition, organized by the gallery in collaboration with the artist's family, offered a rediscovery of the artist's entire production, through nearly one hundred pieces, oils on canvas and works on paper